Greensboro businesses deal with growing pains during construction

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Some business that have been around in Greensboro for years are now dealing with some growing pains. There are a lot of new projects, particularly in the downtown area, that are currently in the works.

While crews are working to build up, places like Acropolis Restaurant on North Eugene Street and Cincy’s Downtown Restaurant on February One Place are dealing with the backlash during construction.

Jimmy Contogiannis, the chef and owner Acropolis, has been dealing with it for a long time.

“I would say five to seven years and it's still not over yet,” Contogiannis said.

“Approximately four months and it almost put us out of business,” Contogiannis said.

Now, things are better but he is still dealing with parking issues while the the Carroll and Bellemeade project is under construction.

Developer Roy Carroll said the Hyatt hotel and one of three apartment buildings will be complete this August. The project was originally planned to be complete six months ago. Carroll says the delay is because workers are hard to find and he wanted to make sure the finishing touches were top notch.

Contogiannis believes once things are done with that project, a parking deck in the area is built and a new office building is complete, the wait will pay off.

“I believe it will and I look forward to it,” Contagiannis said.

While he is looking forward, another business in the area is just starting the process.

“Buckle up because there are going to be bumps in the road,” Contogiannis said. “Start delivering or get someone to do it for you.”

Cincy’s Downtown Restaurant on February One Place has been in business for more than 30 years. The City of Greensboro closed off the road they are on to build a parking deck on Davie Street.

“It's already been closed down for months and it hasn't gotten started yet,” said Bonnie Kays, the owner. “It's been a roller coaster ride quite honestly.”

Kays says carry-out business has dropped because people can’t pick up food if there is nowhere to pull over.

“We did pick up GrubHub to help out with that,” Kays said.

Right now, her plan is to take things day by day.

“Trial and error and we're going to keep going,” Kays said.

FOX8 did reach out to the City of Greensboro to see what’s next for the parking deck on Davie Street. Demolition took place on an old parking deck and a building on the corner of Market and Davie streets, but we are not sure when crews will start building up. The last time we spoke with the city manager, he hoped to have the project done by the end of 2019.